Goals for the 21st Century

robertdfeinman

robertdfeinman

Total Posts: 99

Joined 10-02-2005

Jr. Member

Total Posts: 99

Joined 10-02-2005

Posted: 15 February 2005 12:05

Plans for the 21st Century

The political processes has gotten mired down in day to day squabbling
over short term issues. This has resulted in a complete abandonment of
any discussions of long-range goals.
First steps need to be formulating goals, including those that seem
too idealistic to be achieved. Then a separate discussion can take
place on how to move towards these goals. Hopes and aspirations should
not be limited by fears of being unrealistic.
My initial suggestions (please feel free to add to the list):

Individual goals:

Universal retirement support for every member of society.

Universal health care support for every member of society.

Free education to anyone who wishes it through college.

Mandatory education through high school - not just attendance up to a certain age.

Universal food support for every member of society.

National goals:

Restructure communities to be less dependent upon transportation.

Lower the work week to prevent both over work and under employment.

Establish equal protections for workers.

Eliminate discrimination based upon a person's inherited traits.

Reform drug laws to be more effective and less retributive.

Reform "sin" laws to be more effective.

Create public works projects to improve water supplies in the West and
to improve desirability of living in the center of the country.

Improve land use planning so most people live nearer the natural landscape.

International goals:

Achieve new sources of energy using fusion, solar power or other breakthrough
technologies.

Reverse migration from the land to the cities. Create viable economic
opportunities in a decentralized environment.

Develop new goals in life less dependent upon material rewards.

Lower world population by 20% by the end of the century.

Demilitarize the world economy.

Establish global land use policies to replenish the natural landscape.

Improve standard of living for all those below the norm - health care,
education, food and shelter.

Robert
I agree with most of those goals, sounds like a society of people looking after their own and others as well. A society that appreciates the natural environment and wishes to live in harmony with it. Of course you meant these goals to be part of a national dialogue, sort of the way many smaller European countries do their politics (places like Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, etc.). In Canada we call it democratic socialism, but of course it is difficult to even discuss these things much less find consensus to implement anything quite so cooperative and progressive, faced with the extreme right wing capitalist rhetoric we are bombarded with every waking moment from our aggressive neighbour to the south.

I think hampsteadpete was under the impression that the national government would simply legislate these policies and force them onto the population. Perhaps he doesn’t understand that Marxism is not an evil concept, but the Soviet experiment was. Karl Marx made it clear that a cooperative, socially and economically equitable climate could not be imposed on a people against their will - the people themselves have to decide on such a path of justice and egality. Lenin thought he knew better, but he was proven tragically wrong. In fact the Russian people, especially in 1905, were a fanatically religious people and that in itself should have made it obvious that the Soviet brand of Communism could not work. Pete probably sees any social movement that states it’s goals as just another form of communism or totalitarianiam (Orwell); like for most Americans it seems that if you try to control market forces or introduce universal programs (healthcare) you are automatically labeled a communist. It’s a very strange psychosis that seems to exist only in the United States, although we certainly have our fair share of political psychotics in Canada as well. These people live in some kind of deathly fear of a population of rational thinkers controlling their own destiny. They see the interference of government (we, the people) in corporate affairs as an evil and sinister event, ergo, the Enron type fiascos.

I follow your thinking on education reform. I filled out an alumni questionnaire upon graduation and the last question asked if there were any subjects I felt were missing from the curriculum. I answered, “Life Skills,” and listed some of the ones from your list ... personal finance, early childhood psychology (for parenting), basic political science (explanation of local government as well as overview of different political systems) ... Though it was a university questionnaire, it led me to think that these subjects should be taught at the highschool level. No matter the career or profession, we all need this information to be well-functioning members of society. Here in Quebec, domestic violence is the leading cause for murder. I’m focussing on the introduction of psychology, namely early childhood development, to provide the background for when today’s students become tomorrow’s parents. The hope is that when these students become parents, this information would resurface and they would understand the often-times strange and frustrating behaviour of their infants, toddlers, school-age children, and teens.

Good luck to you. Do you have a plan of action in the works to introduce your educational reform? I would be interested in reading your ideas ...

Thanks,
Susan

“Believe those who seek the truth, doubt those who find it.” Andre Gide